Psalm 12

The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs. “Use a low octave” is a guess. It’s based on the idea that the lyrics are solemn, and a good fit with music played in quiet tones and in a bass octave. The Hebrew word, sheminith, is a mystery, like selah.

Seven is a number Bible writers used to symbolize perfection or completion. The symbol comes from the creation story. God rested on the seventh day, after he finished creation.